I am going to tell you how I did it, but I am new to this tutorial thing - so if something isn't clear you can ask and I will try to explain better or you can search for other tufted headboard tutorials out there in internet land. There are a few.
When we last left off we had this:
The next step is pretty simple. Use your fingers to make holes in the batting everywhere that there is a hole in the foam. Just kind of tuck the batting down into the hole in the foam as you make the holes.
I actually added a step that most people won't need. I used 19-20 different purple fabrics for the buttons on this headboard. I wanted to make sure no two that were the same were near each other. So, before I poked holes in the batting I laid all the buttons out to make sure I knew where I wanted them. Then I transferred them to my ottoman in the same order so I would know where they went. I also threatened the lives of all of my children if they got anywhere near the buttons and messed them up. ;) Since most people use the same fabric on their buttons or will go for the random I don't care look - you can probably skip this step.
All the tutorials said to lay your fabric out and to center it on the headboard and then to start from the middle and work your way out. I had 8 yards of fabric and was hoping to have some left over to cover her box spring. I did not want to waste any fabric. So, I of course ignored those directions. I did not cut the 8 yards of fabric and laid it out over my headboard with the cut end overlapping one end enough so that I could staple it under when done. You can either center your width on the board or I also left one side longer than the other and just made sure I would have plenty to staple under on the shorter side. Then I started at the end with the cut end of fabric overlapping it and did one column from top to bottom at a time. This seemed to work just fine for me, but you will have to decide what will work for you. No promises here. Once I got to the end I cut the excess and did the next board the same way. These pictures are not spectacular, but I was trying to show you what I did. I did not get very good pictures of this. The top left picture was taken from the end of the board. So the bottom of the picture is actually the end side of the long headboard. The bottom left picture is looking at the shorter scalloped headboard from the bottom of it. You will understand the comments on the pictures after you read the whole post.
All the tutorials I read said that applying the buttons and doing the tufting was much easier with 2 people and boy were they right! I started out having my oldest 2 help me, but their attention span was not 130 buttons long and they were at school for big chunks of the time that I wanted to work on it! I could still do it, but it was a lot harder, took more time, and I was not getting the buttons as tight as I wanted. So, a new plan needed to be formed!
Let's start at how I started doing it:
Thread the thread through the hole from the bottom. Thread it through the button and then back down thorough the hole. Pull on the thread from the bottom while pushing the button down and helping the pleats to be where you want them. Then have a child laborer, aka my oldest son or daughter, push down on button and board while you continue to pull on string and climb under the headboard. Take staple gun and begin to staple thread 3 times on back of board, all while child laborer is hopefully pushing down hard enough so that the board does not push up causing the staple to not go in tightly. Repeat 130 times! You can see where this was quite the process!
Once you get to this point this is what you do on the back (This applies no matter which of the ways you choose to attach your buttons and make your tufts):
I was putting 3 staples over each string. Make sure your button is as tight as you want it before you put the staples in and then staple. You want to move the string to different angles for the different staples so that it is less likely to slip and you want to make sure your staples are tight. It is easier to get them tight if you staple with the board face down on the floor, but that can make it harder to make sure your button is where you want it. You will have to play with it and see what works best for you.
Then a small miracle happened. One of those blessings that at the moment it happens you do not see as a blessing, but later you are so glad it happened! My trusty staple gun broke. For a single moment I considered running to the store and grabbing a new one just like the old one and then I realized how sore my hands were from the old one and made a decision. It was time to upgrade to an air powered staple gun. I did my research and the one I wanted was not available at the local store - so I ordered it online. Luckily I have free 2 day shipping on the site I ordered it from! The new staple gun opened up the possibility of a whole new process! YAY!!!
New way:
Press fabric into hole where button goes with fingers. Get everything laying just like I want it to and as tight as you want it and then put nose of staple gun into hole and move your fingers out of the hole. Insert a staple to hold it there. Repeat 130 times or however many buttons you have. The new staple gun was not flat on the end like the old one, but had a nose that fit oh so nicely into the hole! Once all the places where a button will go are stapled down you start threading your needle and button through just like you did before, but I was able to do a whole bunch at once without securing them with the staples on the back and then flip the whole board over onto the floor and pull the strings tight and staple them down. Because the fabric was already secured I did not have to worry about getting the pleats right and the buttons/ strings didn't pull out as they would have if the fabric were not already secured to the board below the button. Because I could easily flip it over onto the floor the board didn't move and I could get the staples tighter. And then there is the fact that the new air powered staple gun was so easy to use and my hands were not killing me like they were from the manual staple gun! Win! Win! Win!!!!!! One person doable and so much easier! And if something did not line up right it was so much easier to pull a staple out than it was to cut the string and remove the button. At least I thought it was easier.
I forgot to take pictures of adding the buttons after this, but you just repeat the steps from above for that, but everything should be in place - so you don't have to worry about getting your pleats right or anything. Just apply button! Here are the pictures from above again to remind you.
I also discovered one way not to do it. It might work for you, but after an incident I decided it was not worth the saved time to chance a later disaster. I threaded the button on the string first and then threaded both ends of the string through the needle. I then used the needle to thread the string through the fabric and hole from the top. And then I pulled it tight and stapled it in place just like the other two ways. The problem - this puts a lot of extra pressure on the shank of the button and I had one that later popped off the wires that hold the string. Since the two sides of the string go though 1 hole in the fabric it is only the button holding everything in place. I fixed it the lazy way as I did not want to recover another button. I put a new string though the hole to hold it - without a button on it and then I glued the button over the top of the string. Let's hope the others that I did that way don't do the same thing over time! Or I will probably try the other not great, but will work method of fixing it. Staple the fabric back where it should be and then glue the button on top. I considered this as a 4th method, but was afraid the staples would pull out too easily. Maybe your buttons won't break as I only had one do that, but I don't think I will chance it again!
One other thing: I also wrapped the edges and stapled them as I went. I waited until I got a few rows past a spot and then would pleat it and wrap it. I found that most of the time pleating it at the center of the button to the edge worked best for me on the rectangular sections of headboard, but this is something that you will have to work with and see where the pleats seem to want to go naturally or where you can force them to go because that is where you want them. ;) You could also wait and do all the edges once after all the button tufting is done. That is probably the way most people would do it anyways. I just like to do things my own way!
Once you finish applying all the buttons and wrap the edges you turn the board over and trim off all the excess fabric and batting. You are done! Well, you could try to cover the back, but who will ever see it! And you need to apply something to hang it on the wall. But, the hard part is done! Here is my finished product! I love how it turned out! The straight purple is her sheets. I think I kind of prefer it with just purple, but I am not replacing her bedspread right now and she is 12 and loves it. I think 12 year olds like things busier than adults do - or at least mine does!
Cost analysis:
I think each headboard was right around $100. So, $200 for the two in J's room. That is if you don't count the tools I bought to make them. If you count those then you are probably closer to $130-$140 each. Not too bad! The cheaper ones on Etsy seemed to run around $300-$500 each with an additional shipping fee of about $150. So, way cheaper than the custom ones I found there! Another win!
Now on to my son's headboard. That one may be a few weeks off. I still have to figure out the whole printing on fabric for his buttons and the next few weeks are a bit crazy! Stay tuned for more!
